The lonely path that you dig yourself…

There aren’t that many Christian books out there on biblical friendship. Too often Christians can isolate themselves and think that they can practice their faith without others input. This is not true and can lead to massive amounts of discouragement and struggle.

The Christian life is one of community, one of togetherness and one of mutual striving to godliness in this life. That can’t happen properly in isolation.

Many Christians today feel that they can practice their faith isolated from a church. Quite frankly, that’s naïve. Also it completely, and deliberately, forgets the idea that a Christian is called to be part of a body of Christ.

The body of Christ is a beautiful image that helps the believer understand both their receiving and giving of their fellowship and the gifts that God has given them to bless the church with.

The desire to live out your faith in isolation is normally the product of church hurt, either rightly or wrongly, and out of a desire to escape from a particular circumstance.

The reality is that cutting yourself off from a church, in most cases, results in a person walking away from their faith or walking into error. Walking away from a church for the wrong reasons is an invitation to pick up a shovel and dig yourself a lonely trench with no one by your side.

Do not be foolish, not every church will act as you want it to, but as long as their actions are in line with Scripture, who is it you’re fighting against, the local church or God?

To leave the church and live out your faith on your own is naive and it ignores God’s command to care for others and to build them up.

Do not be naive, do not dig a trench that leads you away from the community of faith. Instead invest in your local church and see the local church go from strength to strength.

By walking away from church, not only are you robbing yourself of the opportunity to be blessed and grow in a loving community, you’re also robbing others of the blessing that you could be to them and the gifts that you can encourage and build others up with.